Magashule and Mabuza represent ‘very opposite of where ANC needs to go’: analyst

Political analyst Mcebisi Ndletyana has slammed the election of Ace Magashule as the new secretary-general of the ANC.

Ndletyana said the election of Magashule as the new administrative head of the governing party did not augur well for its efforts to reclaim its credibility given his implication in allegations of state capture and the poor state of ANC branches in his home province of the Free State.

"At a party level you can't really have Ace Magashule as the SG. He's very hostile to the media because of all sorts of impropriety he's been accused of. The Free State ANC is pretty much in disarray because of that man.

"He's just been effectively found guilty for the second time by the courts of manipulating ANC processes. So if you say as the ANC we want to do things differently‚ Ace is not the guy to do it‚" said Ndletyana.

He said the election of David Mabuza as the new deputy president of the ANC would also prove problematic in the run-up to the general election in 2019.

"DD Mabuza also has his own problems from Mpumalanga. He's being accused of bribing and threatening journalists‚ so it's bad news. Those two individuals represent the very opposite of where the ANC needs to go."

ANC Youth League president Collen Maine‚ who had campaigned vociferously for the election of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in the run-up to the party's conference‚ appeared unhappy about the election of Cyril Ramaphosa as the new president of the governing party.

Approached for comment shortly after the announcement of the election results on Monday night‚ Maine said he was not yet ready to speak about his new president.

“We support the collective leadership. Ramaphosa is part of that leadership. But we will not speak about him alone‚” he said.

However‚ Maine said the youth league accepted the outcome of the conference.

“Branches of the ANC have spoken and we always said we will accept any outcome‚” he said.

The Youth League secretary-general‚ Njabulo Nzuza‚ said they were disappointed that Dlamini-Zuma was defeated by Ramaphosa.

“We are disappointed ... we know very well that we lobbied long and hard for Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma but it did not pull through‚” he said.

Former ANC Youth League deputy president Ronald Lamola said he believed the results of the ANC leadership race congratulated the newly elected officials.

"It is a new lease of life for the ANC," he said.

Lamola hinted that a last-minute deal was reached to unite the party by electing a leadership collective with representatives of both factions.

"Conference has intervened to unite the ANC and I think all comrades will work hard to win elections. The collective will help restore the faith of society on the organisation‚" he said.